


Rest Cycle

by Headline (Newsy)



Series: Headline's Chronicles [5]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Original Character(s), POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 02:11:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/818744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newsy/pseuds/Headline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our basket case of a narrator resists the urge to helicopter. Yes, helicopter is a verb now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rest Cycle

“Live Shot…”

I hadn’t seen a full rest cycle in three days.  I knew where Live Shot was – on his first solo assignment, filming as Hound and Cliffjumper cleared out an abandoned Decepticon outpost in South America.  Thanks to some brief contact the day before, I knew his condition – uninjured, undented and unscratched.  But regardless of all the reassurance I had, I still could not rest my processor fully until I saw my tiny triple-changing teammate home safe and sound.

“Live Shot…”

“Headline?” Slamdance asked over the comm link.  “You in there?”

“I – um – yeah,” I muttered, rousing from a semiconscious state and lifting my head from the console.  “Did I do it again?”

“You sure did,” Slamdance said.  “Lady femme, you need to take a rest cycle.  Somewhere _other_ than the office.”

I nodded apologetically.  “I know.  But I can’t.”

“You wouldn’t have sent him out there if he wasn’t ready.  You’ve trained him well,” Slamdance consoled me.  “You know he’s fine.”

“Knowing doesn’t mean slag,” I sighed.  I picked up an energon goodie to deliver some quick energy to my circuits and plodded on with a bland Ironhide-injury-of-the-week story on which I could barely concentrate.

***

Day four of the clearing operation in South America had come and gone, and the work was finally done.  Hound and Cliffjumper were set to return any moment, and Live Shot with them.  I paced outside the Ark, not quite worried but not quite relaxed, mostly proud of my protégé and eager to see his work.

Any second, they’d be home.

_Any second_ stretched into minutes, minutes into almost a full hour.  _Now_ I was worried.

I slipped into the Ark to find Jazz prepping a small force for some mission of which I was unaware.  “This won’t take us a klik, Prime,” he shouted in his distinctive, confident voice.  Jazz, Brawn and Huffer transformed and rolled south.

“Where’re they going?” I asked no one in particular.

“Hound and Cliffy ran into a cat-and-bird welcoming party on the way home,” Bumblebee answered me.  “They’re practically at the door.  Nothing to worry about – just sending a few extra hands.”

“Nothing to worry about?” I snapped.  “Live Shot’s with them!”

“Headline, it’s just a couple of tapeheads,” Bumblebee said.

“Live Shot’s no _bigger_ than a tapehead!”

Bumblebee smiled.  “He’ll be fine.  You heard Jazz.  Won’t take a klik.”

I thought about continuing the argument, but gave up.  Anxious pacing seemed like a marginally more productive use of my time, so I returned to it.

Time slowed to a crawl.  Seconds felt like days.  As right as Bumblebee likely were, and as well-equipped as Jazz and his team were to handle Soundwave’s little friends, the facts were cold comfort.  Live Shot was in danger on his first solo assignment – an assignment that he’d hinted at wanting and that he’d eagerly accepted, but an assignment that had been _my_ call.  I knew guilt was unnecessary, and still I felt it.

My communicator crackled.  “Hey, Headline – you’re gonna strip a gear when you see this footage!” Live Shot crowed.

_“Live Shot!”_ I replied, trying and failing to keep the relief out of my voice.  “Where are you?”

“Ten miles out.  The guys are cleaning up what’s left of Ravage and Laserbeak,” he laughed.

“Are you –”

“Not a scratch on me.  We’ll be home in fifteen minutes, tops.”

“Good,” I said with a genuine smile, stopping my pacing, standing still and waiting with only a hint of worry.

***

“That’s some solid stuff,” I complimented Live Shot.  “How’d you get close enough to catch Ravage actually getting hit?”

“Zoom lens, remember?” Live Shot chuckled.

“Good work,” I said with a chuckle of my own.  “Glass gas is _bad_ for cats.”

“Yeah.”

I practically crumpled onto my bunk.  “I’m _exhausted.”_

“Me too.  We need a second bunk in here,” Live Shot griped.

I patted an empty spot to my right.  “You don’t take up that much room, kid.  C’mon up here with me.”

Live Shot hopped onto the bunk, careful not to jostle me or even touch me.  I paused, inched closer to him and laid my hand lightly on his shoulder before blacking out my optics.

“Headline, you all right?” my small teammate’s voice drifted into my aurals as I faded from wakefulness into my first honest rest cycle in days.

“Great,” I said contentedly.  “Great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Original characters Headline and Live Shot created by the author. Other characters, as well as Transformers itself, are the property of Hasbro and used for non-profitable entertainment purposes only.
> 
> For LJF.


End file.
